The most personal account of the life and work of legendary designer Coco Chanel ever told. Coco Chanel’s life and work have been recounted often in print and film-everything except the details of her most private self: her fondness for symbolism and poetry, the men she loved, her family, and in particular her nephew Andre Palasse, whom she raised like a son. His daughter Gabrielle Palasse-Labrunie--goddaughter to both Chanel and the Duke of Westminster and Chanel’s only direct descendant--enjoyed a close-knit relationship with the designer for more than forty years. In this biography, she opens her doors and shares personal memories of her great-aunt.This work--divided into five chronological parts, including Chanel’s dark periods--plunges the reader into the private world of Chanel, offering intimate insight. Photographs of Chanel’s personal effects, many of which have never before been seen or published, include presents from her great love Boy Capel, furniture, favorite jewelry, talismans, clothes, family photographs, rare documents, correspondence, and books with personal inscriptions. In Intimate Chanel, Palasse-Labrunie discloses all that was “important” to her great-aunt and recounts their private conversations, unveiling who her “Auntie Coco” really was: a Chanel who was very different from her public persona.

Isabelle Fiemeyer has written biographies on Coco Chanel and Marcel Griaule, as well as a novel in her native French. Francis Hammond’s photographs have been published in Elle Decor and Martha Stewart Living as well as Historic Houses of Paris (2010), Elegant Entertaining (2009), and Mariage Freres French Tea (2003). Gabrielle Palasse-Labrunie is Chanel’s great-niece.